Prisoners

Seeing Hyuuga Nen slow down, Kakashi quickly signaled to Itachi Uchiha with his eyes.

Itachi Uchiha had been on Kakashi's team for a while and had developed good rapport with the others. He immediately understood what Kakashi meant and began forming hand seals.

Itachi Uchiha was now using all his strength. During the earlier fight, he had kept to a pace of four hand seals per second to mislead Hyuuga Nen.

At Kakashi's signal, Itachi Uchiha and his clone suddenly sped up their hand seals from four per second to six, hoping to catch Hyuuga Nen off guard.

"Fire Style: Phoenix Sage Flower Nail Crimson!"

"Fire Style: Great Dragon Fire Technique!"

Itachi Uchiha first used Phoenix Sage Flower Nail Crimson, hiding shuriken in the flames of Phoenix Flower Fire. The flames wrapped around the shuriken as they flew toward Hyuuga Nen.

By the time Hyuuga Nen dodged the flaming shuriken, Itachi Uchiha's Great Dragon Fire Technique had already rushed toward him.

"Wind Style: Great Breakthrough!"

On the other side, Kakashi also used Wind Style, a technique he rarely employed, to combine with Itachi Uchiha's Fire Style and attack Hyuuga Nen.

A thunderous boom rang out.

With Kakashi's Wind Style behind it, the enormous fire dragon surged toward Hyuuga Nen at even greater speed.

"Rotation!"

Facing the oncoming fire dragon, Hyuuga Nen immediately used Rotation to defend himself. The rapidly spinning sphere of blue chakra deflected every attack.

Seeing Hyuuga Nen use Rotation, Kakashi showed no surprise. His hands kept forming seals.

"Summoning: Earth Style: Tracking Fang Technique!"

At the same time, Kakashi's other clone began gathering chakra in his hand. Dazzling lightning appeared around it, accompanied by a sharp crackling sound, as if a thousand birds were crying out.

The instant Hyuuga Nen stopped, eight Ninja Dogs of various sizes burst out of the ground and lunged at him with their jaws wide open.

"Got him!" Kakashi thought as the eight Ninja Dogs sprang out, then rushed toward Hyuuga Nen.

"Chidori!"

As he sprinted forward, Kakashi aimed his lightning-wreathed hand at Hyuuga Nen, as if he meant to pierce straight through him.

Facing the eight lunging Ninja Dogs, Hyuuga Nen used Gentle Fist: Body Strike Method: Needle once more. Needle-shaped chakra surged out of his tenketsu and struck the dogs in the mouth just as they were about to bite him.

With eight quick thuds, the Ninja Dogs let out a single brief yelp and vanished into thin air.

As Kakashi charged at him like an arrow, Hyuuga Nen simply reached out and caught his wrist. With a light pull, he diverted the attack.

Hyuuga Nen had noticed the eight Ninja Dogs underground, but Kakashi had chosen his moment well. After using Rotation, Hyuuga Nen's body had paused for an instant, making it difficult to dodge the next attack.

"Your speed is impressive, but your attack comes from one direction. Against someone faster than you, the opening is obvious."

As he spoke, Hyuuga Nen raised his foot and lightly kicked Kakashi, then leaped backward.

As Hyuuga Nen jumped away, Kakashi's figure suddenly grew unstable. Lightning flashed around him, and he exploded with a bang, sending arcs of electricity in every direction.

"How?"

Kakashi was stunned. "How did he counter Tracking Fang Technique? And why didn't my Lightning Style Shadow Clone explode the moment he attacked? Why was there a delay?"

Hyuuga Nen knew that Kakashi liked using Lightning Style Shadow Clones to catch people off guard, so he had stayed alert when facing Kakashi's clone.

As for why the Lightning Style Shadow Clone's explosion was delayed, it was due to the effects of Gentle Fist chakra. Although Hyuuga Nen couldn't use Lightning Release, he could use Water Release. He had tested it before: under the influence of Gentle Fist chakra, a Water Clone's Water Prison Technique was delayed by an instant as well.

Hyuuga Nen really had closed his eyes just now when Itachi Uchiha fooled him with a "Flash Bomb." Kakashi could have used that instant to employ a method Hyuuga Nen didn't know about, but Hyuuga Nen had learned enough about Kakashi to keep his plan from succeeding.

"It's Gentle Fist." Hyuuga Nen said only those three words as he looked at Kakashi, still astonished.

"I've never heard of Gentle Fist working like that," Kakashi replied.

"You may not have heard of it, but you've seen it for yourself now, haven't you?"

Hyuuga Nen looked at Kakashi, who was panting heavily, and had no intention of explaining further. He used Body Flicker Technique to rush at him, while throwing an Explosive Tag toward Itachi Uchiha to keep him from interfering.

Once he reached Kakashi, Hyuuga Nen stopped holding back. He gathered Gentle Fist chakra in his hand and drove his fist toward Kakashi.

Seeing Hyuuga Nen launch a close-range attack, Kakashi grew wary. He concentrated his chakra in his hands, hoping to block the Gentle Fist and buy time for Itachi Uchiha to come to his aid.

But the instant Kakashi's hands touched Hyuuga Nen's fist, the chakra in them was dispersed. His hands went numb from the blow.

After seeing that his punch had numbed Kakashi's hands, Hyuuga Nen thrust out a palm and slammed it into Kakashi's chest. The heavy blow made Kakashi spit blood and sent him flying backward. He crashed to the ground and couldn't get back up for a long while.

At that moment, Hyuuga Nen seemed to have eyes in the back of his head. He sidestepped, dodging the long sword Itachi Uchiha swung at him from behind, then turned and kicked.

Itachi Uchiha was a little faster than Kakashi. He raised his arm to block, but the force of the kick was beyond what he had expected. The chakra in Hyuuga Nen's foot also differed from what he had imagined of the Hyuga Clan's chakra. It broke through his chakra defense, and the arm that took the blow could no longer be lifted.

Hyuuga Nen kicked again, hard in Itachi Uchiha's stomach. Itachi Uchiha flew backward and crashed into a tree.

Without pausing, Hyuuga Nen closed in and pressed the tenketsu on Itachi Uchiha's body, sealing them all.

After doing the same to Kakashi, Hyuuga Nen took out a rope and tied all three of them up, leaving them unable to fight back.